Slaton police came to this woman's house, who wishes to remain
anonymous, to arrest her son. But by asking one simple question, she
found herself behind bars instead.
"I told him, 'I will release my son to you upon viewing those orders.'
Those were exactly my words," The complainant said. "He said, 'This is
how you want to play?' He took two steps back, turned around to the
officer and said, 'Take her.' They turned me around, handcuffed me, and
took me in."
The complainant said she was aware police would be coming to apprehend
her 11-year-old son based on a criminal complaint, and that she just
wanted to see the warrant. As it turns out, that warrant didn't exist.
She spent the night in jail while her son was left at home.
"He told me it was their duty to come pick up my son," She said. "Yet, I
had someone stay the night at my house. They never came back that
evening, they never came to pick up my son, or do what they told me they
were there to do in the beginning."
"This occurred on May 29 when they went out to apprehend this young
man," Dwight McDonald, the family's attorney, said. "The directive to
apprehend was not signed until May 30, which is another indication that
they didn't have the authority to go out and arrest him or apprehend
this young man."
The Slaton Police Department is willing to issue an apology, but McDonald said that's not enough.
"If she moves out of Slaton and tries to find a job elsewhere, you can
Google her name, and at that point, the arrest, my guess is, is going to
show up," McDonald said.
"I will accept an apology, but what is that going to do?" The
complainant said. "It's not going to take my picture off the internet
sites that have been posted, from being published in the newspaper, from
where I work. I've never been in trouble, in 32 years of my life, from
anything, and to get thrown in jail because I asked a question is not
right."
McDonald said the Slaton Police Department will issue an apology as long
as the mother agrees not to file a lawsuit. He said unless she is
compensated for her expenses and the trauma she's been through, a
lawsuit won't be out of the question.
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